Frozen Spirits
by Heart the Wolf
Summary: Sonic had been murdered. Tails' must now brush aside his emotional turmoil and be the hero everyone expects him to be.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:**** _I Haven't uploaded Something in a while... So here's an old story that I wrote last year... Enjoy?_**

_The strong blizzard raged as I ran to catch up with Sonic. I knew if I kept running, I'd find my friend – before he got too far. Finally, I saw him, he was just ahead. I ran faster, and faster. Suddenly, I felt my back foot latch onto my front, and the next thing I knew, I was face-first in the snow. A shiver crawled up my spine as I felt the cold wetness soak into my coat._

"_W-wait! I can help now, let me come!" I called._

_He looked back, first in confusion – he was obviously wondering why someone would follow him into such dreadful weather – but when he noticed it was me, he smiled in his usual way, and chuckled slightly._

"_Were you really going to leave without me Sonic?" I asked, looking up to him - trying to make my blue eyes as pleading as I could._

_Sonic walked back to me and helped me up. He was still smiling, but there was something off about it, like it was covering his true emotions. "Not this time buddy," he told me, turning away. "You need to stay in New Mobotropolis. I don't want something to happen to you too."_

_I could sense the sorrow in his voice, in spite of his cheerful outlook. As I searched his expression for insight into his thoughts, I found the images of our former friends flash past my eyes, and I knew he was thinking of the same thing. Their lives were sacrificed in these pointless killings... He was going for revenge..._

"_But, I-"_

"_No, Tails, I'm not going to let you come," he said sternly. "Just, stay here. I'll be back in about an hour." Sonic half-smiled, and gave me a thumbs up._

_I looked into his piercing green eyes, they had dulled in the past month, they didn't show that spark they had before: the spark that showed his confidence, and love of life._

_As he dashed away into the blizzard, somehow I knew, that he wasn't going to come back._


	2. Chapter 1

The freezing, winter wind blows through the city, but it seems colder this year. Though I _do _try my hardest to keep everyone's hope up, they are frozen inside. Their hearts, their minds, and their spirits, are glacial, hopeless, _dead_. I walk through the town, and look around. The life had been drained from everyone, leaving only an icy shell of the people who once inhabited this place.

The wind cuts through me like a razor blade and sends a shiver through my frail body. Wrapping my arms around myself, I pull my coat closer. The coldness seems to emanate from the people who were living here. Their wintry, broken spirits call the snow and frost. It's drawn to us, our poor, defeated town- forever in frost, forever in fear, forever in agony. I close my eyes and try to conjure up a vision of a warmer, happier time, but to my dismay, I only find more sadness in the memory that comes.

_The scent of blood entered my nose, that horrid, retched smell filled this dark, damp cave. I held back a gag as I walked further into the cave. I couldn't turn back, I was on a mission, to find my friend, and our hope. The rocks around me glistened, as if the cave itself was shedding tears, telling me to go back, I wouldn't like what I would find. I ignored the feeling. I owed it to him, to everyone. I was going to find him, and bring him back. I felt myself shaking, it took all my willpower to stop myself from turning around and running back to the city. As the scent grew stronger, a dark feeling started to grow inside me; like my heart was being pulled down into my stomach. I clenched my hands into fists as the feeling persisted. My heart couldn't take much more as it was dragged down further and more violently. I tried to call out to my friend, but my voice had been scared away, all that came out was a small whimper._

_I turned a corner, and let out a gasp. Whatever it was that was pulling my heart suddenly turned to ice. I held my chest and wanted to scream. My mind was telling me to break down in tears and fall to the ground. There he was, my hero, Sonic, lying on the ground, motionless, a pool of his own blood surrounded him. The sight of his torn, mangled body froze me inside. I longed to turn away, but I couldn't rip my eyes away from the scene, I just stared at him. His leg had been bent in an awkward position like it had been violently broken in an escape attempt. Deep slashes covered his entire body; the longest being on his left side – it reached from his ribs to his thigh. His cobalt fur had been dyed red, __**everything**__ had been dyed in that glistening, crimson colour. As if in a trance, I took a step closer, my body shook uncontrollably._

"_So-Soni-S-" I managed to whisper. My voice was choked, like a cold, clawed, hand gripped my throat as I spoke, and refused to let go. Tears streamed down my face as I fell to my knees. I stared into his emerald green eyes. They were locked open, a look of fear was frozen onto his face. I'd never seen that look on him before; his confidence always shone through, even in the most grim situations, but now.._

_I reached toward him, my hand still shaking – half in fear, half in shock._

"_S-... S- Son- Sonic," I whispered his name. "Y-You can't b-b-be dead... Wh- Who's going to p-protect us?"_

_My vision blurred as I crawled closer to the body of my best friend. My eyes were fixed on him. He was gone, actually gone. I stayed on my knees and stared for a minute, then I threw my trembling arms around him. His body was cold, unmoving, wet, like ice. I didn't want to admit he was dead. I couldn't. I gripped him tighter, as if by doing so I could bring the warmth back to his body. I felt my fingers embed themselves in the large wound on his side. Blood seeped into my tattered gloves, and soaked my hands, though I barely noticed it as my tears flowed freely from my eyes. As I held him closer, I could hear pathetic whimpering sounds echo throughout the cave, and a distant part of me realized they were my own._

A tear slips down my cheek as I remember the gruesome image. Whoever would think that one person's death, one moment in time, could throw an entire town into such a depression. I shake my head, trying to snap myself out of it. I have to be the strong one now, it's my duty, it's what he would want me to do. I stop walking once I reach the centre of town. There, stands a large statue of Sonic, the late hero of our community – no, more than that – of the world. He had saved us so many times, he'd almost seemed untouchable, but that one day just helped us see that even heroes aren't gods. We're all mortal, and weak.

I start to brush the snow off the bottom of the statue, since there is quite a lot. My mind is still buzzing with the images of the past.

Suddenly, I hear a woman's yell from behind me, but before I can turn to it, someone grabs my shoulders and turns me around. A young, pink echidna stood in front of me, her dark purple-blue eyes were clouded with worry. She's a resident of our city. Her name is Julie-Su and she's one of my friends. She was trying very hard to stay composed, but her cheeks were wet, and I knew she had been crying.

"Tails, i-it's my son. He's gone," she states, trying desperately to stay calm. " I- I think he left the city."

I blink. It's dangerous outside the city, especially now. I look toward the city's walls. The blizzard is raging, and is showing no signs of stopping soon. As I look, I couldn't help but remember the night Sonic left. There was a storm that night. A storm just like this one...

I force myself back into reality and nod to the echidna, "I'll find him." I assure her. As I start to turn toward the exit, Julie-Su grabs my shoulder and turns me around again.

"He's my son. I'm coming with you."

I shake my head, " You have to keep watching the wounded. That's more important."

I braced myself for her protest - she's usually very stubborn. To my surprise, however, it never came. Ever since her husband was killed, she had been a bit more compliant with rules.

"You'd better bring him back Tails." She tells me, poking my chest. I nod and continue on my way to the exit.

"_There's been another attack!" Sally cried. "Elias, my brother, he's- he's-" She broke down into tears and covered her face with her hands. I drew a quick breath in and looked toward Sonic. The hero also looked shocked._

"_**What**__?" He replied, taking a step back. Sally and her brother were the core of our community, everyone came to them with their problems. Though Sally was very responsible, would she be able to do it alone?_

"_They- they found him this morning, in the castle's gardens," she explained, her voice cracking._

_Sonic stood silent for a minute, then wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry Sal'..." He soothed, "Don't worry, I'll find who's doing this. I promise."_

_As Sonic led Sally back into the castle, I found myself standing alone, lost in thought. Who could possibly be doing this? Attacking my friends, killing them off... was there a pattern? Or was it just whoever was unlucky enough to cross their path next. I sighed, and looked into the clouded sky. It'll rain today, the dark clouds above threatened their intent. It almost seemed like they were in with this killer, providing him cover, and washing away the evidence. My eyes drifted down, and I found myself watching the castle. The large building used to be a symbol of hope, but now it seemed to loom over us, casting a large, dark shadow over our once bright community._

_Sonic walked out of the castle and back to me. He sighed, his eyes sparkled with dismay as he spoke._

"_That's four people in the last week." He said, half to himself. "Bunnie, Amy, Mina... and now Elias." The young hero clenched his hands into fists and shut his eyes. "And I'm just standing here."_

"_It's not your fault Sonic," I told him. "This person isn't leaving any clues."_

_He looked at me, without hiding his true emotions. He was worried, afraid, and blamed himself. "Thanks little buddy, but I have to find this guy before he attacks anyone else." Sonic looked to the castle, he was obviously worried about Sally – his girlfriend. He bowed his head._

"_I'm going out for a bit, just around the city-"_

_Sonic's statement was cut off by a scream, followed by a loud "NO!"_

_Me and Sonic looked at each other, then we both ran toward the source in unison._

_The place we arrived at was a house – we both knew who it belonged to: Knuckles and Julie-Su._


	3. Chapter 2

The gale is strong, but I keep moving – covering my face with my arm. My efforts to deflect the wind are futile; it always manoeuvres around my arm and slashes my face with its frozen claws. I start to feel my body go numb from the wind's constant assaults, but I keep walking.

I start to hear crying in the distance—the crying of a child.

"H- He- Help!" I hear the wail ahead.

I raise my head, and strain my ears to pinpoint the source. It seems so far away, but it might just be the wind stealing the sound away, trying to confuse me, and lead me astray. I squint my eyes, the snow erased the once-green forest, leaving only a white canvas ahead of me.

_Tails, this way. Follow me._

The voice echoes around me, it's familiar. I start looking around, until I spot something, an image.

"Son- _Sonic_?" I stammer, staring at the image standing in front of me.

_Yeah, now follow me._

I see his green eyes sparkle with amusement. I nod to him; he returns the gesture, then dashes into the blizzard. I run after him, trying my hardest to keep up, but my legs already seem frozen from the inside; my muscles feel like they're shrinking – slowly. Sonic disappears into the blizzard, but I still continue to chase the image of what was there.

When the whiteness finally fades, my heart sinks at the sight what lay ahead – a cave.

"N- _No_!" I yell, while putting my hands over my ears. "_Why _did you lead me_ here_?"

I step away from it and shut my eyes tightly. A cave. _The_ cave. The body. _He's gone._

"Someone, **Help**!" The child is calling for help again – he's inside the cave.

I cover my ears more tightly, and let my tears stream down my face; I take another step back. I decide to turn, to run back home - I can't do this.

_You're just going to leave him there?_

My eyes snap open, and my body freezes in place.

_That doesn't sound like you Tails. Go help him. You're gonna to have to do my job while I'm gone._

I stand there, everything seems like a dream; or the blizzard had frozen time itself. There he was, my hero, telling me to help someone – for _him_. I know I have to, and I _can_ but... What will I find in there?

"Sonic..." I whisper, the calmness of my own voice surprises me.

I stood up and look to the cave with new confidence; I'll do it, for him.

_I know you can little buddy._

I dash into the cave and call out for the child, hoping – no, _praying_- he would return my call.

"I'm here, I'm here!" I hear a weak voice reply from a little further into the cave. I run faster, trying to get to the source quickly, and without even thinking, I turn a corner.

I realized my mistake only after I made it. My body started to shake; It feels like someone had stabbed an icicle into my chest.

There was that image again, there, laying on the ground in front of me, was the broken, mangled body of Sonic.

"N-No, n-not _again_," I whisper, drawing back from the body. The retched smell of blood enters my nose again, making me gag. I hold my stomach and gag again. I tried to inhale, but it felt like my lungs had stopped working.

"Tails, aren't you going to help me?" My eyes grew wide, the body was speaking.

I take another step back, "I-I- can't! _No_!" I shake my head violently, my mind whirling. Nothing is making sense! "S-Stop it," I breathe.

"Please Tails, you gotta help." I hear the voice again, though it sounds different this time – more... child-like.

I slowly open my eyes, the body was gone, replaced by a young echidna. He looked about seven, his long red dreadlocks are edged with frost, his skin is pale, and wax-like. The boy's red and yellow winter jacket had a coating of dirt on it, probably from him laying on his stomach. His foot is stuck firmly between two large rocks. I notice his cheeks are wet with tears, the poor kid must have been in a lot of pain. I recognized the child as Force – Julie-Su's son.

I shake my head, snapping myself back into reality. I run to him and start trying to push one of the rocks off.

"I'll get you outta here Force, don't worry." I assure the child, pushing as hard as I could. Force cranes his head to look up at me, then nods.

I use all my strength to push that boulder, and as I feel sweat fall from my brow. It finally moves a bit. I blink, then push harder – the boulder is very stubborn - and finally the boy is freed. Force pushes himself up as soon as the rock is off of his leg.

I look at him and force a smile, "Are you okay?" I ask, slouching over the boulder I had just moved.

Force nods, and thanks me gratefully. He tries to stay aloof, but I notice the adoration – for _me- _shining behind his eyes. I try to ignore it. I feel uncomfortable with that – I don't deserve it.

Keeping the smile plastered to my face, I nod back to him. "Then we'd better get back to the city - your mom is worried." I walk to the child, take his hand, and guide him out of the dark cave.

The blizzard isn't as violent as it was before. It's almost as if it respects me for what I did, and decided to grant us a safer passage home.

"_N-No, please don't touch that!" I yelled. The two older boys had taken my new machine. I just finished it after five months of building and perfecting. _

_The orphanage wasn't the nicest place there was; I was always picked on - mostly because I'm an easy target. I was shy, didn't have many friends, and always kept to myself._

_The older boys laughed, and raised the small device higher. "What'cha gonna do about it, huh?" One of them asked tauntingly._

_I looked down – defeated, I couldn't beat them._

_The boys laughed again, and dropped the machine. I shut my eyes tightly, and prepared to hear the __**'smash' **__of my machine breaking on impact. I waited, and waited, but I didn't hear the sound. I slowly opened on eye. Standing in front of me was a young hedgehog, maybe five years older then I was. He had six cobalt blue quills spiking out from the back of his head and his eyes were emerald green. He held my machine in his hand, and the two other boys were on the ground, looking up at him._

"_You okay kid?" The hedgehog asked me, "They didn't hurt you, did they?"_

_I shook my head, looking up at this boy in awe. I'd seen him before - he was new here, just came yesterday. According to the rumours, his parents just disappeared – like mine did. He looked so brave though, and not shy at all._

"_Good," He replied. "My name's Maurice – but I'd rather be called Sonic. what's yours?"_

"_M-Miles"_

"_Nice to meet you Miles." He winked and held out his hand to me. I took it, and let Sonic help me up. I was still staring at him, I couldn't believe that he'd helped me._

_Maurice gave me an odd look, "You okay Miles?"_

_I blinked and nodded my head – snapping myself out of the trance I was in. "Y-Yeah, y-you were just so cool." I paused and shuffled my feet._

_Maurice chuckled, "Thanks. Now, you two" He said, looking back at the two boys - who were still on the ground. "You'd better not hurt my friend anymore."_

_The boys looked wide-eyed at Sonic – they actually looked scared. I figured that no one had ever gone against them before._

_The blue-furred hedgehog smirked, "Heh, Let's go Miles." He said to me, then started to walk away._

"_Okay!" I replied, following him. Maurice helped me, when no one else bothered, and he didn't even know me! I looked at him again, he was... my hero..._

"Force!" Julie-Su runs to her son and wraps her arms around him. "Don't _ever_ do that _ever _again!"

"I'm okay M-Mom" The boy replies, still shivering from being out in that blizzard. "Tails s-saved me."

I force a smile again, "I'm just trying to help." I say, scratching the back of my head awkwardly.

Julie-Su nods to me, gratefully, then rushes her son back to her house. I sigh and start to walk to my own home.

I feel a bit different, though the cold wind is still blowing behind me, I hardly notice it. It's like I'm in a daze. The world around me seems almost surreal. All I could think of is that look Force gave me when I saved him. What if people start thinking of _me_ as the new hero? I shake my head, they can't do that! No one can replace Sonic, _especially_ not me!

_You need to watch the town._

His words are echoing in my mind. Did he want me to take his place? Did he _know_ he was going to die? I shake my head again. Of course he didn't know he would die! He was going to protect us forever, he would-

I almost walk into my door. Sighing, I take out the key, unlock it, and turn the handle.

"Tails?" A voice sounds behind me. I turn to look, it's Force – he must have gotten away from his mother again.

"I- I just wanted to thank you for saving me." He tells me, smiling. "And, the way you pushed that boulder away was awesome! You were_ so_ cool!"

I blink, this couldn't be happening. My mind starts spinning, my vision blurs, this isn't right.

"_Y-Yeah, y-you were just so cool."_

My own voice echoes in my head, images of Sonic flash by my eyes.

_You need to watch the town._

I pat Force's head, and smile, "Thanks."

I walk into my house and close the door, the room seemed to be spinning. I can't be the hero, I can't be the cool one. Sonic already has that position, not me. I'm just the friend, the sidekick.

"Where are you?" I whisper, looking around my living room. He's around here somewhere, he'll be walking downstairs soon. I start putting things away, he's always so messy.

I walk to a mirror, and wipe it off, it's a little foggy.

"Son- Sonic? N- No! NO!" I scream and step away from the mirror. The refection I see... it isn't _me_...

It's Sonic.

"I'm not him!" I yell, closing my eyes tightly. "I'll never be him!"

I cover my ears and turn away, muttering 'No' over and over again.

_Tails? Bud?_

I open my eyes slowly, my mind beginning to settle down.

_Hey there, I was waiting for you._

I smile to my old friend, kind of laughing. He's so impatient sometimes.

_C'mon, we'd better go._

His warm smile always is so calming, it's like when I see it, I know everything will be all right. I nod and take his hand. The air is so warm here, the grass under my feet is soft, and lush.

_Ready?_

I nod again.

"I'm ready, lets go Sonic."


	4. Epilogue

Sally ran to Julie-Su's home, she had been busy all day and never had a chance to check on her. When she got there, she found the echidna sitting outside, watching the snow fall from the sky. She looked very tired, and melancholy.

"Hey Julie-Su. How's it going?"

She shrugged in reply, not even making eye contact with her friend.

Sally paused for a moment, searching her friend's face for clues before asking the question she came there to ask. "... How's he doing?"

Julie-Su's eyes drifted to the ground, and Sally could sense her duress. "He's comfortable," she said simply. "He's just... not there."

Sally sighed, she was hoping he would be better by now. "I-I'm sorry."

Julie-Su shrugged again, her voice was dull, almost lifeless. "It's not anyone's fault. He was just pushed too far..."

The young princess shook her head as her eyes focused on the ground. "I didn't know he took Sonic's death so hard... He never showed it."

"I wish I saw it earlier." Julie-Su added wistfully.

Sally sighed, and shook her head again, trying to regain her composure. "What's he doing now?"

"He's just sitting on the hospital bed, unblinking. He whispers things sometimes, but..." She paused, and brushed her dark purple bangs out of her face. Julie looked to the morning light, the storm had ended, but she knew the scar it had left would never disappear. She hated storms now; their menacing presence haunted her, as well as the rest of the town, they had been the prologue to the eventual demise of two heroes. Two friends.

"I'll take care of him." Julie-Su said finally, half to herself. Her voice was distant, almost like it was an echo of her thoughts. "Like he took care of us..."

Sally blinked, but simply nodded. Tails was in capable hands.


End file.
